The technology available for climbing up trees for purposes of their maintenance consists of lifting a worker to the working site. For this purpose hydraulic devices are used. The devices vary in their capacity to lift the worker to varying heights and ground structure transferability. The price of these devices varies according to their capabilities and safety characteristics. The higher a device can lift, the higher its price will be.
In the palm tree plantation today many kinds of man lifting devices are used to do the work at the tree top. These devices are the same as those used in such sites as construction sites, electric company working sites, local municipality sites and others.
The devices operating today in palm tree plantations include: EFRON--a small device for lifting a person to various heights up to 15 meters, MANITO--a medium size device for lifting a person to heights up to 15 meters, MARK LIFT--large devices for sites up to 20 meters high. The two last devices mentioned are very expensive and their operation is very slow. The slow work pace is one of the problems that the palm tree growers have to deal with. In working on plantations there are quite a few tasks that have to do done quickly or else insufficient amounts of fruit will be gathered. The devices common today are slow and are too expensive to make it possible to purchase several devices. Most palm tree growers cannot afford to buy the expensive devices, so when a tree reaches the height of the maximum capability of the device that they can afford, the tree is cut down and replaced by a new young tree that will yield its first fruit only seven years later. The amount of fruit yielded by palm trees is in close correlation with their heights. Thus just when the tree is cut down it has the potential for yielding its best crop. The risk of lifting a person to this height is very great and so the lifting devices get to be large and expensive and the growers cannot afford them. Another problem of the large devices in the plantation is their weight which does considerable damage to the ground--packing the ground, a problem from which agriculture suffers a great deal.
The present invention relates to a device that may replace the common technology used today especially for palm plantations and the like and which is based on a new conception of the task at hand--control from the ground by remote control. The device can rise to any desired height without risk to a person or damage to the ground. The price of the proposed device can be low enough for the growers to afford, and thus they will be able to buy several devices at a much lower price than that of one of the common devices used today. The device according to the present invention will be able to do the work faster, cheaper and much more safely for a much lower price.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a device for climbing trees, poles and other vertical members which is easy to erect in the field, inexpensive, safe to operate and can speed maintenance and other operations.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a climbing device which has a center of mass which approximately coincides with a longitudinal axis of the vertical member being climbed.
It is a still further object of the present invention to provide a device which is particularly adapted to engage a vertical member which does not have a smooth or straight surface.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a device of which maintains engagement with the member being climbed throughout the climbing operation.
It is a yet another object of the invention to provide a climbing device that includes a moveable working platform or cart which can circle the climbed member to facilitate work being performed.
Additional objects, advantages and novel features of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from this disclosure, including the following detail description, as well as by practice of the invention. While the invention is described below with reference to preferred embodiments, it should be understood that the invention is not limited thereto. Those of ordinary skill in the art having access to the teachings herein will recognize additional applications, modifications and embodiments in other fields which are within the scope of the invention as disclosed and claimed herein and with respect to which the invention could be of significant utility.